My Thoughts on Hansu

 I wanted to dive into Hansu as a character slightly deeper and share my thoughts on this character. When the professor that came to visit us told us her opinion on Hansu and shared how she actually loved him, I was confused and surprised. How could she love such a selfish and unforgiving character? I tried my best to put my initial thoughts aside and figure out why she loved him so much. As a character, he provides a lot of Sunja and her family, and does do unnecessarily kind things for them. When he finds her mother in Busan and brings her to the farm, that showed that he does somewhat care about Sunja. He also moved them to a safe haven when he knew they would be unsafe or even killed, and kept tabs on them for countless years, ensuring they were safe with little to no interference. However, it is hard for me to forget his true motivations and see past his personal life. When he first rejected Sunja, it was sort of like a slap in the face for her and it took me aback as well. He had showed so much interest in her and had abused his power in their relationship; because of this, I hated him almost as much as Sunja did. Furthermore, when comparing him to Isak, he seemed like a complete monster. Although Hansu was never my favorite character and I, to be honest, wasn't a big fan, I do think he was a necessary part of the book and did impact their lives in a good way. Without him, they most likely would have died much earlier in the book and Sunja would never have been reunited her mother. They would also have continued to be poor and would have suffered for an extremely long time. I wonder what Min Jin Lee would say about Hansu, and if her intention was for him to be a hero or a villain?